1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to a print control apparatus for controlling a printing unit to print image data on a sheet, a control method for controlling the print control apparatus, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A sheet processing apparatus for performing post-processing on an output printed sheet is attached to some image processing apparatuses with a copy function and a printer function. Representative functions of the sheet processing apparatus include a staple binding function. The staple binding function is a function for binding sheets using a metallic staple.
Since the stapled printed product is easy to handle for each single copy, it is widely used when an output product with a plurality of pages is handled.
However, recently, binding methods without using a staple (also referred to as stapleless binding) are devised in consideration of the environment because the metallic staple is used for binding. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 8-300847 discusses a technique in which a part of a set of printed sheets to be bound is cut collectively in a semi-boring manner leaving a part thereof without being cut and the cut end portions of the sheets are folded back to bind the set of sheets.
In the printing apparatus that can perform binding processing described above, various methods without using the metallic staple have been put into practical use, and the methods have different characteristics from the staple binding methods using the metallic staple.
Specifically, the area of the sheets to be processed becomes wider to obtain a binding strength larger than a certain strength. In a case of staple binding using the metallic staple, if the binding is performed with the staple penetrating through the printed sheet bundle, a certain strength can be obtained.
However, when binding is performed using glue, for example, the required binding strength cannot be obtained if the glued area of the sheets does not have an enough area. Similarly, in the binding method for binding sheets by cutting sheets in a semi-boring manner, if the cut area of the sheet is not large, enough strength cannot be obtained. Alternatively, in the binding method for binding sheets by pressing thereof, as the area of the binding portion is larger, the binding strength becomes larger.
With the paper processing of a narrow area as the area which the staple portion occupies for binding in the conventional method using the metallic staple, the strength for binding sheets may not be obtained.
Therefore, when a user uses such a binding method without using staple (stapleless binding method), in order to obtain the binding strength desired by users, an area larger than that used conventionally needs to be processed for binding.
Hereinbelow, referring to FIG. 13, in a case where such a bound printed product is browsed, an issue that the visible area by a user becomes narrower than that in conventional method will be described.
FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a state where the visible area of a document becomes narrower as the binding area becomes wider. In this example, a corner of the document is bound at a point.
In FIG. 13, a staple binding example 301 which uses a metallic staple has a wider visible area of the next page portion when a page is turned over because binding strength can be obtained even if the binding is performed at an edge of the document. However, a stapleless binding example 302 which uses no metallic staple needs a wider binding portion area to obtain an enough binding strength. As a result, the binding portion is positioned inner side of the document than that when the metallic staple is used. Therefore, the visible area of the next page when a page is turned over becomes narrower. In these examples, the upper left side of the document is bound.
As described above, there is an issue that the output printed product has poorer visibility when the stapleless binding function is used than when the conventional staple binding function is used.